Purpose Capable service employees are increasingly scarce and costly. Many organizations opt to partially replace, support or augment human employees with AI systems. This study builds a framework to help managers map and understand the challenges of crafting a service climate that fosters synergies between AI and human employees, where customers require value-added, personalized and excellent service

Purpose This article proposes a set of three service standards for serving humanity; develops the Agency, Dignity and Diversity (ADD) Service Standards Framework; integrates these standards with human experience; and then applies this framework to refugee service experiences. Design/methodology/approach Building on Transformative Service Research (TSR), we propose service standards for humanity and

Purpose In light of the increasing prevalence of non-human services, organizations can benefit by emphasizing distinctively human qualities in their services. This paper suggests that cultivating virtues among employees can enhance the value of human-provided services. Design/methodology/approach This conceptual paper incorporates ideas from management and service research examining the notion of virtue

Purpose The relationship between frontline employee work engagement and customer service evaluations is a major theme in service research. Recent studies have called for further exploration and validation of this relationship. This paper conceptually replicates the work engagement-customer service evaluations link within the context of technology-mediated voice-to-voice encounters. Moreover, we extend

Purpose This research investigates the systematic reuse of service concept elements within modular service design, aiming to offer actionable insights into effective conceptualization of services and extending methodological underpinnings to enhance the approach of service design. Design/methodology/approach Employing a design science research approach, this study investigates the intentional and targeted

Purpose This paper aims to explore practice innovation and organizational resiliency during exogenous service ecosystem disruptions. This inquiry focuses on the extreme disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, which required service firms to recodify long-established service scripts, adapt digital and physical material elements of the service encounter and ultimately reconfigure a system of practices

Purpose The emergence of new generations of artificial intelligence (AI), such as ChatGPT or Copilot has brought about a wave of innovation in the service workplace. These robotic agents can serve as companions, helping employees cope with work-related stress. This research introduces the concept of “artificial companionship,” which explains how robotic agents can function as partners in assisting

Purpose Customer Experience Management (CXM) has already outgrown its infancy and must now position itself for long-term strategic success. However, the best Customer Experience Strategy (CXS) is worth little if not implemented effectively. Therefore, the present study investigated the determinants of the successful implementation of CXS and its results. Design/methodology/approach Key success factors

Purpose Our purpose is to offer the service research field a framework for cultivating wiser service systems via wise communication–which we define as “interactional activity that reflects and reifies the integrative, practical, and relational nature of organizations.” Design/methodology/approach We draw on the Communicative Constitution of Organizations (CCO) theory to integrate insights and findings

Purpose This paper offers a new vision of responsible service leadership for service organizations nested in economic, societal and environmental contexts across time to foster collective flourishing. Design/methodology/approach Following the call for novel perspectives that recognize service as a game among (vs between) people in service ecosystems, we build on service leadership theory to integrate

Purpose Subscription offerings are being hailed as the next service growth engine for companies in both business-to-consumer (B2C) and business-to-business (B2B) markets. The study analyzes how a manufacturing firm can develop and implement a scalable service-based subscription business model for B2C and B2B customers alongside its existing product-centric model. Design/methodology/approach A longitudinal

Purpose The paper investigates how the engagement of a group of actors (the volunteers), previously unexplored in service ecosystems literature, contributes to generating new co-creation activities and well-being outcomes in the healthcare service ecosystem (HSE). Moreover, the study analyses how the provision and integration of volunteers’ resources help to explain the HSE self-adjustment favouring

Purpose Sustainability transitions (STs) refer to large-scale step changes in complex systems required to face sustainability issues. We aim to delineate how they can unfold in service ecosystems, especially when inspired by regenerative thinking. Design/methodology/approach We develop a conceptual framework based on a processual view of STs and provide a propositional inventory based on literature

Purpose Applications of artificial intelligence (AI), such as virtual and physical service robots, generative AI, large language models and decision support systems, alter the nature of services. Most service research centers on the division between human and AI resources. Less attention has been paid to analyzing the entangled resource relations and interactions between humans and AI entities. Thus

Purpose This investigation highlights the discrepancies in sustainability reporting practices, and their implications for sustainable service. Design/methodology/approach A comparative analysis methodology was employed, examining sustainability reports from similarly situated companies, specifically PepsiCo and Coca-Cola and The Home Depot, Lowe’s and HomePro. This approach was chosen to uncover variances

Purpose This paper seeks to deepen and improve our understanding of business ethics in services by developing a typology that reconciles and integrates disparate and often conflicting ideas and viewpoints while providing practical guidance for ethical decision-making. Design/methodology/approach The paper examines current theoretical approaches in ethics to provide an understanding of the ethical theories

Purpose This article introduces the Responsible AI for Service Excellence (RAISE) framework. RAISE is a strategic framework for responsibly integrating AI into service industries. It emphasizes collaborative AI design and deployment that aligns with the evolving global standards and societal well-being while promoting business success and sustainable development. Design/methodology/approach This multidisciplinary

Purpose The service environment is becoming increasingly turbulent, leading to calls for a systemic understanding of it as a set of dynamic service ecosystems. This paper advances this understanding by developing a typology of service ecosystem dynamics that explains the varying interplay between change and stability within the service environment through distinct behavioral patterns exhibited by service

Purpose This study explores the influence of employee empathy on brand love, which subsequently affects customer advocacy, willingness to pay more (WTPM) and tolerance of failure. Additionally, it investigates the mediating role of customer delight and gratitude in connecting employee empathy with brand love and the moderating effect of power distance belief (PDB) between employee empathy and customer

Purpose Existing research on customer journeys has tended to focus on the customer’s purchase decision-making and firm-controlled touchpoints, overlooking indirect touchpoints where customer resources and behaviors influence the firm and other actors, beyond financial patronage. This article develops the concept of engagement journeys and discusses their implications on journey design and management

Purpose An AI concierge is a technologically advanced, intelligent and personalized assistant that is designated to an individual customer, proactively taking care of that customer’s needs throughout the service journey. This article envisions the idea of AI concierges and discusses how to leverage AI concierges in the customer journey. Design/methodology/approach This article takes a conceptual approach

Purpose This paper presents a new conceptualization of digital service anchored in a coconstitutive ontology of digital “x” phenomena, illuminating the pivotal role of the digital qualifier in the service context. Our objective is to provide a theoretically grounded conceptualization of digital service and its impact on the nature of the value cocreation process that characterizes digital phenomena

Purpose Designing and developing responsible business practices can create various tensions for service organizations. The purpose of this research is to develop a deeper understanding of the relationship between customer engagement (CE) and responsible business practices (e.g. environmental, social and/or governance [ESG], corporate social responsibility [CSR] and diversity, equity, and inclusion

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of what (service) experience is and examine it using three distinct perspectives: customer experience (CX), employee experience (EX) and human experience (HX). Design/methodology/approach The present conceptualization blends the marketing and organizational behavior/human resources management (OB/HRM) disciplines to clarify and reflect over

Purpose Effective customer journey design (ECJD) is considered a key variable in customer experience management and an essential source of brand meaning and pro-brand behavior. Although previous research has confirmed its importance for driving brand attitudes and loyalty, the role of consumer-brand identification as a social identity-based influence in this relationship has not yet been discussed

Purpose The study aims to promote the use of qualitative methods in service research by investigating how these methods are reported in service journals, how the level of reporting has evolved and whether methodological reporting influences the downloads or citations received by qualitative articles. Design/methodology/approach Methodological reporting practices were identified through content analysis

Purpose In an era where complex technological advances increasingly govern service delivery, it is incumbent on service firms to pioneer innovative strategies to sustain customer engagement and cultivate loyalty. This conceptual paper examines the transformative potential of artificial intelligence (AI) in the realm of online customer communities, with a particular focus on its creation, management

Purpose In this article, we reflect on how smart technology is transforming service research discourses about service innovation and value co-creation. We adopt the concept of technology smartness’ to refer to the ability of technology to sense, adapt and learn from interactions. Accordingly, we seek to address how smart technologies (i.e. cognitive and distributed technology) can be powerful resources

Purpose Recently emerged Packaging-as-a-Service (PaaS) systems adopt aspects of access-based services and triadic frameworks, which have typically been treated as conceptually separate. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the implications of blending the two in what we call “access-based triadic systems,” by empirically evaluating intentions to adopt PaaS systems for takeaway food among restaurants

Purpose The purpose of this study is to disclose ontology of DSI as a novel concept in servitization community, explore the research context and themes (i.e. technological and industrial sectors) where DSI emerges, unveil methodological complexities of the research on digital servitization and DSI and provide guidelines for future research avenues regarding DSI. Design/methodology/approach Bearing

Purpose Engaging in webcare, i.e. responding to online reviews, can positively affect consumer attitudes, intentions and behavior. Research is often scarce or inconsistent regarding the effects of specific webcare strategies on business performance. Therefore, this study tests whether and how several webcare strategies affect hotel bookings. Design/methodology/approach We apply machine learning classifiers

Purpose This article overviews some key contributions to service research from the organizational behavior/human resource management (OB/HRM) discipline with its strong focus on the role of employees. This focus complements the Marketing discipline’s heavy emphasis on customers, largely true of service research, overall. Design/methodology/approach Ten OB/HRM frameworks/perspectives are applied to

Purpose While existing literature extensively explores manufacturing firms expanding into services, little is known about the modes of servitisation, the means by which they carry it out. This paper concentrates on acquisitions as a mode of servitisation. Post-acquisition integration is when the potential of an acquisition is realised. The paper therefore aims to categorise types of integrations following

Purpose Technology-enabled business-to-business (B2B) services contribute the largest share to GDP growth and are fundamental for an economy’s value creation. This article aims to identify key service- and digital technology-driven B2B innovation modes and proposes a research agenda for further exploration. Design/methodology/approach This conceptual paper adopts a techno-demarcation view on service

Purpose This research explores how to design service delivery systems to facilitate a customer experience that enables the realisation of prevention-oriented goals. Design/methodology/approach Case-based research is undertaken to inform the design of service delivery systems for prevention-oriented consumption goals. Data from multiple informants, from both the provider and customer perspective, in

Purpose The purpose of this manuscript is to provide a step-by-step primer on systematic and meta-analytic reviews across the service field, to systematically analyze the quality of meta-analytic reporting in the service domain, to provide detailed protocols authors may follow when conducting and reporting these analyses and to offer recommendations for future service meta-analyses. Design/methodology/approach

Purpose This paper integrates the findings of the articles included in the special issue (SI) on frontline employee (FLE) research. Articles included in this SI systematically review multiple research domains, including employee and customer engagement, FLE vulnerability, customer mistreatment, service teamwork and service encounters; provide instructions on effectively conducting meta-analyses and

Purpose The authors systematically review empirical dyadic service encounter research published in top-tier journals between 1972 and 2022. Design/methodology/approach The authors employed bibliometric techniques, co-citation analysis and bibliographic coupling analysis to map schools of thought and research frontiers within the dyadic service encounter literature. In total, the authors analyzed 155

Purpose Service managers increasingly strive to achieve sustainability through strategies centered on circularity. With a focus on saving, extending and (re)generating resources and their enclosing service systems, circularity can contribute to environmental, social and financial gains. Yet, the notion of circularity is surprisingly understudied in service research. This article seeks to provide an

Purpose This paper addresses the growing fragmentation between traditional and digital service innovation (DSI) research and offers a unifying metatheoretical framework. Design/methodology/approach Grounded in service-dominant (S-D) logic's service ecosystems perspective, this study builds on an institutional and systemic, rather than product-centric and linear, conceptualization of value creation

Purpose In many contemporary service organizations, service teams or service units are the main engines used to deliver key services to customers, client or patients. However, it remains unclear how teamwork mechanisms (i.e. the ways team members work together) influence customer service outcomes, and whether these relationships vary across different service contexts. To advance knowledge on the nature

Purpose This study aims to develop theory on the process toward digital service innovation (DSI) and to generate insights into how companies deal with the rising complexity associated with DSI, both inside and outside of the organization, through organizational learning and alignment. Design/methodology/approach After purposeful sampling, in-depth, longitudinal case studies of three manufacturers are

Purpose Digital Service innovation (DSI) plays a fundamental role in the successful transition from product manufacturer or traditional service provider to a provider of digitally-enabled service solutions. Multiple impediments make managing this transformation using digital technologies difficult for firms, their customers and wider ecosystems. Extant knowledge of these digital technology impediments

Purpose This research empirically investigates how service employees' ratings of technology readiness (TRI), negative attitudes towards robots (NARS), Big Five personality traits (BFI) and emotional demands (ED) affect their willingness to work with service robots (WTW). Design/methodology/approach One set of data is collected from 410 service employees expected to work with service robots in Study

Purpose The purpose of this article is to propose an overall framework for brand community formation that separates antecedents that lead to the formation of a brand community from those outcomes that are associated with established communities. Design/methodology/approach The authors approached this review through an interdisciplinary literature review that delineated psychological, structural and

Purpose This paper studies the Digital Service Innovation (DSI) concept by systematically reviewing earlier studies from various scholarly communities. This study aims to recognize how recent advances in DSI literature from different research streams complement and can be incorporated into the growing digital servitization literature to define better and understand DSI. Design/methodology/approach

Purpose Digital service innovation (DSI) is a type of technological innovation that is recognized in practice in the innovation structure of companies. Given the breadth of digital technologies that enable digital services and the variety of these services, analysis is needed to discern the nature of these services, as well as the process that culminates in co-innovation. The literature on DSI is fragmented

Purpose This article aims to build on the insights from the systematic reviews included in this special issue (SI) on frontline service employees (FLE) by adding practitioner perspectives. Its purpose is to gauge knowledge, awareness and practices from industry and government regarding topics related to frontline workers and to offer critical and, in places, provocative insights on the relevance of

Purpose Although service researchers have long suggested that customer mistreatment adversely impacts service employees' outcomes, statistical integration of current empirical findings has been lacking. This meta-analysis aims to review and statistically synthesize the state of research on the relationship between customer mistreatment and service employees' affective, attitudinal and behavioral outcomes

Purpose The purpose is to review literature on sports season ticket subscriptions to distil current knowledge and guide future research and practice. Design/methodology/approach A systematic literature review is conducted of research on sports season tickets, a long-established and innovative subscription category. Findings In-depth examination of 28 papers showed a focus on drivers of satisfaction

Purpose The impact of frontline robots (FLRs) on customer orientation perceptions remains unclear. This is remarkable because customers may associate FLRs with standardization and cost-cutting, such that they may not fit firms that aim to be customer oriented. Design/methodology/approach In four experiments, data are collected from customers interacting with frontline employees (FLEs) and FLRs in different

Purpose The current research aims to introduce the concept of frontline employee (FLE) vulnerability and examine its antecedents and consequences using a framework grounded in Job Demands-Resource theory (JD-R). Design/methodology/approach A systematic review and meta-analysis guided by PRISMA is utilized to review previous FLE literature (204 studies) and develop a conceptualization of FLE vulnerability

Purpose Online trolling is a detrimental behavior for consumers and service businesses. Although online trolling research is steadily increasing, service research has yet to thoroughly explore how this behavior impacts businesses. Further, the role of bystanders, consumers who witness a victim (business) being trolled, remains largely unexplored. The purpose of this paper is thus to introduce online

Purpose A small group of pioneering founders led the creation and early evolution of the service research field. Decades later, this article shares timeless service wisdom from ten of those pioneering founders. Design/methodology/approach Bowen and Fisk specified three criteria by which to identify a pioneering founder. In total, 11 founders met the criteria (Bateson, Berry, Bitner, Brown, Chase, Edvardsson

Purpose The human service triad (i.e. the relationship between the customer, frontline employee (FLE) and managerial employee) experiences a range of well-being challenges when faced with the introduction of service robots. Despite growth in service robot scholarship, understanding of the well-being challenges affecting the human service triad remains fragmented. Hence, the purpose of this paper is

Purpose The purpose of this work is (1) to supply a framework of actors in sport sponsorship and articulate the service relationships that support these partnerships and (2) to propose research questions in this space that are unaddressed and forward-looking. Design/methodology/approach Sponsorship is part of a complex network of actors and service relationships found in sport. The sports team, activity

Purpose Social factors, such as fellow spectators in a stadium or other fans sharing their experiences on online platforms, play a dominant role in spectator sport consumption. This conceptual article sets out to achieve three objectives: classify customer-to-customer (C2C) interactions in the sport fan context, develop a framework that links the classification of interactions to relevant outcomes

Purpose Actor engagement (AE) literature shows inconsistent understandings of engagement intensity. However, a holistic picture of the nature of AE intensity is foundational to advance empirical AE models and measurement frameworks. This paper provides a nuanced understanding of what engagement intensity is and how it unfolds on different network levels. Design/methodology/approach This conceptual

Purpose The purpose of this study is to explore customer-artificial intelligence (AI) service technology engagement and relationship development drivers, as well as potential negative consequences in the context of social chatbots. Design/methodology/approach A sequential mixed-method approach combined exploratory qualitative and confirmatory quantitative analyses. A conceptual model developed from

Purpose Service robots are gradually becoming more anthropomorphic and intelligent. This research aims to investigate how anthropomorphic service robots with different levels of intelligence affect their human counterparts. Design/methodology/approach Two between-subject experimental studies were used to test whether different levels of service robot anthropomorphism with different levels of intelligence